So it's been a while. A house never runs quite as smoothly when mom works as when she doesn't, at least in my house. So now that I've been working for a while and adapted to the time away from home, (I love the ladies I work with) I've found some time to get a few things done. I sewed pajamas for all the kids except Kenzie who I decided gets to learn how to sew her own, and made a couple of outfits for my tall skinny 7 year old. In a world were stores are carrying "husky's" my kids always needed tall and now, my youngest needs "tall and skinny." At least I have the ability to sew and I now work around a great selection of fabrics and I know exactly when they are on a great sale.

On another note, James has hit the road driving, sort-of. The new requirements of have to put in so many hours is great, but he didn't want to drive when we were available to drive with him this summer, and now that he's taking the driving class he's reading to drive, but we don't like the weather, and today 22+ inches isn't helping. I guess he can wait (and so can I)

Now to the real reason I decided to post today - HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! I hope you Christmas was wonderful and your New Year is fabulous!

Fishing on Grandpa's Boat

We went fishing with grandpa on Deer Creek Reservoir a few weekends ago. It was great fun, after the boat started working properly. We were able to catch several large fish (18 inches or larger) we all had a blast.

Olivia and one of her fishes.

James learning how to clean and gut the fish.

Olivia's reaction to the cleaning and gutting of the fish.

It was a beautiful, hot day. Mark, James and Livi went up again the following weekend and while they didn't have as much luck as we did they enjoyed that trip just as much.

Gale Center

We took the Activity day girls to the Gale Center in South Jordan and learned a lot about who settled our area. They were farmers, miners and many more. An interesting fact about South Jordan are, it was initally called Gale, because of all the wind - and there are a lot of windy day out here. The girls had a blast! (Livi did too!)

There were many beautiful quilts on display. The chicken have jewels on them. Actual 3D jewels. The lady who made the flag was the tour guides wife. It took her 2 years to sew this quilt (all by hand).

The mine including cart and canary.

dressing up and playing pioneer.

An old building moved onto the property.

Missing teeth

Olivia lost two teeth in two days. She was so excited to be missing her two front teeth. On July 19th she lost her first top tooth and then the next early on the 21th. She actually has 3 holes in her mouth at the moment. It's enjoyable to watch her stick her tongue out, but annoying as she is trying to slur her words. All in all she's still excited and smiles big for everyone.

Float Pre-veiw

On July 19th we had the opportunity to view the floats that would be in the Day's of '47 Parade. This was our first visit and it was amazing. Were were able to see the floats up close and talk to the creators. We learned some very interesting facts. For example the float pictured below (we called it the cricket float) had 163 crickets in it, one for each year since 1847, and on the float itself, there were 114 crickets, one for each year since statehood. The creators had given them a handout with a list of things to look for. The kids had a blast looking for those items.

here are some more of our favorites. Livi loved the large fish and thought it would be great to catch one that large.

James and Livi wore matching shirts and Livi wanted to walk along side the float in the parade since she matched.

The "How to Train Your Dragon" float was beautifully done as well.

It was an enjoyable trip. Cami and her friend got their face painted & Livi got a balloon animal.

The hardest part was trying to figure out which float was our favorite so we could place our vote.

Children's Parade

Cami had the opportunity this year to walk with our stake in the Day's of 47 Youth parade. She was very excited to have this opportunity.

There she is (below) right behind the float waving, smiling and singing.

After the parade, We headed to the festival held at Washington square. All activities were free. Olivia enjoyed the bouncy slides.

They picked up some wood crafts from home Depot as well as an apron. They visited Smokey The Bears tent and learned about fire safety while playing games. The thing they enjoyed the most was the face painting. Cami has a dragon on her cheek and Olivia has a butterfly over her eye.

It was an enjoyable Saturday and they already have plans to go next year.

Upper Provo Falls

On our way home from camping, we stopped at the Provo river falls to cool off and play in the water. Not only are the falls beautiful, the river was deliciously cold and refershing.

The girls quickly took off their shoes and socks and played in the shallow pool splashing and enjoying the coolness of the water. James joined in later when the fun actually began.

After and hour of cool refreshness, we reluctently left the cold water and the cool air of the high unitas to head to the heat of the valley.

Summer Camping

This summer has flown by. It's been very enjoyable having Mark home for the summer. We had talked about all the fun things we wanted to do over the summer, and then Kenzie took 9th grade gym during the summer and James joined the cross country track team and summer track and June passed us by before I even blinked. So last week we borrowed grandpa Tobler's Truck (ours is ill at the moment) and headed up away from the heat into the High Unitas. It was a very enjoyable 3 day, 2 night trip. We camped at Mirror lake, out first time and loved the scenery. We unwillingly gave blood to the very persistently hungry vampires (akamisquotes) and caught quite a many small fries (aka planterfish).

I enjoyed watching the girls catch fish after fish at the lake while Mark went from one pole to the next as he carefully removed the hook (or cut the line) to let the little guys go so they could live to fight another day.

Olivia, of course, had to have her

pink pole, pink jacket and pink bait (but quickly switched bait to rainbow which brought in more fish). All in all it was a beautiful time away.

New Pictures of the kids

Taken May 12, 2010

Running All Day Long.

So life has gotten very busy. I spend all day moving literally. I wake early in the morning, sometimes to early for my sleepy body, to help get 4 kids off to school. The two older kids have to leave the house at 7 am to get to school on time. I drive them to school 3 days a week, then I return home to help the other two get ready for school. When it's cold (which today it isn't) I drive them and two more 2 days a week. It's then that I can finally relax, but I don't cause I have it set in my mind to get healthy and lose weight, which is going well. After my 2-3 mile walk I return home with a great desire to relax, but I don't of course because of all the housework staring me in the face. It's would be so bad, but housework is a big stinky circle. As soon as I get some of it done it's dirty again. I hate running in circles.

But let's get to the real reason of this weeks post - James. I may be busy doing things all day long but James is running in circles all afternoon, literally. In February he decided to join the High School track team. I was all for his doing something and being involved, but the kid has a hard time staying caught up with all the homework he's given with all the honor classes he has chosen to take. After much consideration and mumbling about all the extra bussing I would be doing I decided to let him join anyway. O.K so I didn't decided to let him join, Mark and I discusses the pros and con's and decided that this would be good for him. So really he's the one running around in a circle all afternoon. He decided that he would like to be a long distant runner. He's doing great. He's staying up with his homework and he's working hard. He's currently running the 800m and 1600m (or a 1/2 mile and 1 mile for us Americans)

He really is doing great. He can run the 800 in less than 3 minutes and the 1600 in less than 5. I'm lucky if I can drive the mile to pick him up from school in less than 5 minutes, stupid construction, but that's another issue for another day.

Triple Day

So April 4th was triple day. What is triple day you ask. Well that was the name Livi gave to April 4th. As we know April 4th was Easter. This was the 1st thing that made it "triple day" It was snowy and wet and it made it hard to hide the eggs outside, but it was still Easter, so we improvised.

The second thing that added to April 4th to make it "triple Day" was that it was general conference. Livi thought this was a great reason to celebrate. We got to "watch" church in our pajamas and play game while we listened. Yep I think that's a reason to celebrate as well.

The final thing that made it Triple day was that we celebrated Dad's birthday. What a great day it was. We slept in (no early morning church meeting), we stayed in our comfy clothes, we played games, we ate cake, we hid Easter eggs and spent the day together as a family. If only every Sunday could be that way.

Cami

March was a very busy month for Cami.

On March 10th she and the rest of the 5th grade had their Patriotic Program. It was very beautiful and inspirational. Something about honoring the men and women we know who are currently serving, or have served our country, always makes me cry.

Way back in January she started researching her History Fair project. She decided to research Nikola Tesla. A crazy inventor who wasn't credited for very many of his inventions. She placed high enough in the school competition to go to the district level again this year. The district level was much smaller than in previous years (stupid district split) and on March 26th Cami took 2nd place in the single person exhibit. She was very excited and showed everyone that stopped by her red ribbon.

The week after the History Fair competition Cami received the "Principal's Pride Award" honoring her hard work and commitment in class.

We are proud of Cami and all the hard work she has put into school this year. She is enjoying school and learning much along the way.

Memories

This morning dawned cold and early. It seems to me that the loss of one hour on daylight savings weekend doesn't really occur until the first day you don't get to sleep in. So for me that was this morning. When I woke, too early for my internal clock, I stretched, groggy not wanting to leave my bed yet, but I inhaled deeply so as to awake mt mind and body so I may begin they day. The coolness of the morning hit me too quickly in that breath. Spring is supposedly approaching, but you wouldn't know that after Saturday's snowstorm. Also, in that moment of deep inhale, I smelled something I hadn't smelled in years - grandma's house.

It's funny how smells bring back some many memories. Coffee and bacon will always remind me of time I worked at JB's restaurant. And sawdust, especially pine sawdust, brings back the early years of life married to a woodworker. But this morning was different. This morning I was 5 again. This morning I was laying on the cot next to grandma's bed. The one she always set up for me when we came to visit.

This morning I cool smell the cool crispness of California, and the warmth of artificially heated air. The smell brought back memories of gathering eggs just after breakfast, and hunting for lizards out back in the dirt. The walks in the garden gathering vegetables, or smelling flowers, the wet grass leaving dew around my ankles as I ran around the front lawn, and the enjoyment of swimming in grandma's large yellow bathtub to remove the days dirt and grim were vivid pictures in my mind.

But as quickly as the breath brought memories the next breath brought me back to today and the reality that lay before me this morning. The teenagers then clatters something in the kitchen, and the alarm clock sounded, again. The list of today's activities began push it's way into my head and yesterday's memories floated away. I fumbled my way out of bed to start another day in my life in West Jordan.

Disneyland

O.K. So I know Halloween was months ago. Life's been busy and I haven't taken the time to update this blog, and I was waiting to get all pictures printed. So Last year we decided to take the children too Disneyland over Halloween as a Christmas present. I know that sounds funny, but it was great fun. We visited Oct 30, 31 and Nov 1. It was warm (hot compared to the weather we had left behind) and sunny. We had a great time.

We were able to visit Mickey, Minie, Tinkerbell, Cinderella and Woody while in the parks, but we got to play with Goofy in our Hotel lobby and the surrounding gardens.

We had asked the children before we left on our long drive what one things they really wanted to do while in the park and the only thing James REALLY wanted to do was pilot the Mark Twain. So when we hopped on James asked the Captain if he could pilot. The captain let four of us up top and told us wonderful stories of Disneyland. James also enjoyed the "bigger" kid rides with his Aunt Jen and Uncle John who joined us from Texas. By the end of our visit James and knew where all the cameras where and played up to them.

Kenzie, Cami and Livi took advantage of the opportunity to trick or treat around our hotel. Livi was Tinkerbell (she wore that outfit two day in the park) Cami was a chef, and Kenzie just wore scrubs. Each night after watching the fireworks from the hotel room we fell asleep watching the glow of Tinkerbell as she flew around the hotel room.

It was a fabulous trip that we are still talking about. I enjoyed watching the magic return, even if it was only for a short while. The children are already planing the next trip, even though we don't know when it may be. It's enjoyable to have them old enough to do wonderful family trips like this, but it also sad looking back on the days when they were young and life was magical. Now the "magic" of childhood is slowly disappearing. Some days I wish it were possible to return to childhood, and the magic of it all. Disneyland did that for all of us, even if it was only for a short while.